Amir Khan's coach Virgil Hunter says Freddie Roach failed to ensure the fighter was at his best weight

Virgil Hunter has accused Amir Khan’s former training team under Freddie Roach
of “making mistakes” by not ensuring the former world champion was fully
rehydrated and at optimum weight for previous world title fights.

Amir Khan will enter the ring in Sheffield on Saturday night against Mexico’s Julio Diaz for his first fight in the UK for two years 10 pounds heavier than the 140lb light-welterweight limit permitted at the weigh-in, 30 hours before a bout.

“Amir was giving away a lot of weight in some fights. He was 14lb lighter than Danny Garcia [who stopped Khan in the fourth round in July last year], and lighter than Marcos Maidana and Lamont Peterson,” said Hunter, Khan’s trainer, yesterday.

“He was cutting weight, but he was not putting the weight on again. Those parts of it were mistakes, and that part of it has been corrected. It means two things: you hit the wall in fights because you’re dehydrated, and it could mean you have less power.

“This is what I am here to do. To work with Amir and intuitively find what is right.

“Amir showed courage to leave one of the most acclaimed trainers in the world. Amir is a pleasure to work with.”

Khan explained the changes since the two camps with Hunter. “Now I’m walking into the ring 10lb heavier, which is my normal sparring weight. Some fighters put on 25lb. I’m now much stronger at the weight and hydrated fully. When I was fighting for the world titles, I’d walk into the ring at 147. I only put on 6½lb when I fought Garcia, and against Lamont Peterson, seven pounds.”

Peterson, who defeated Khan on a controversial split points decision, looked decidedly bigger than the Bolton boxer on the night they fought in December 2011. Peterson later admitted he had used synthetic testosterone pellets and was stripped of a world title.

“I used to make the weight in the wrong way,” said Khan. “I cut the weight off too quick, and was not able to put a lot of weight back on.”

That changed in his first fight under Hunter last year.

“If you look at the video of my body shape in the Garcia fight, and my body shape in the Carlos Molina fight, you see two different body shapes. Against Garcia I was dry, against Molina I was sweating, still in condition.”